you still get my heart racing
by champion lyra
Summary: To Yusaku, there had never been anyone else. It always had been and always would be Ryoken. —DataStormShipping, RyokenYusaku. For DataStorm December 2019!


"I can't believe it's today," Takeru said, pushing himself off the wall to lessen the distance between he and Yusaku. "It feels like you just told us, like, three weeks ago."

Miyu snorted, turning from her position over Yusaku's hair to face Takeru directly. "He told us _two _weeks ago." She tsked, yanking the comb particularly hard through the section of hair she was wrestling with. "I don't think he was going to tell _anyone_ if Aoi hadn't asked about it."

The man in question shrugged defensively, doing his absolute best not to flinch as Miyu forced her way through his messy hair. "I didn't want to make a big deal out of it."

It was a poor excuse, Yusaku knew, but it was the truth. When he and Ryoken had decided to finally get married, he hadn't planned on telling a soul. He didn't want a big celebration, and he'd _thought _Ryoken had been fine with that, but apprently his husband-to-be had been blabbing his mouth about his upcoming wedding all over Den City - including to SOL Tech's current CEO, Akira Zaizen, who then blabbed to his younger sister, Aoi.

Who of course, couldn't keep her mouth shut _either_, and had asked him about it while she and Miyu were getting hot dogs from Cafe Nagi.

He and Ryoken had talked about it after that, and begrudgingly, Yusaku had agreed to a much more traditional affair instead of his original desire to get the lisence and be done with it.

It had never been about the ceremony to him, after all. He didn't even really care about the getting married part, either. It just felt… right, to him, to be officially tied to Ryoken after all these years.

They'd been bound together for most of their lives, after all. To make it official only made sense. When he'd said that to Ryoken, his boyfriend had joked that it was an almost morbid way to think about it - in a way that reminded him of his old ideals and thoughts; _prisoners of destiny _coming to mind instantly. But it was the truth.

To Yusaku, there had never been anyone else. Not in any sense of the word. There had never been anyone else that he would've fallen in love with, that he would've overcome his trauma for, back then. It always had been and always would be Ryoken.

"Regardless," Takeru began, snapping him out of his thoughts, "I still can't believe it's happening. But I guess it kind of makes sense."

Miyu gently patted his head, and though he couldn't see her, Yusaku knew she had that kind smile on her face that she always did whenever she got affectionate. "Yeah," she agreed. "We always knew you'd be the first of us, Yusaku."

That genuinely surprised him. Takeru and Kiku had been dating for even longer than he and Ryoken had - only about eight months longer, but it still made a difference. And even then, if they weren't doing it first, Aoi and Miyu had been going strong for years at that point, too.

Instead of saying that aloud, however, Yusaku just smiled. It was a small thing - he still wasn't the most expressive person in their little ragtag group by far - but it was genuine.

Out of the corner of his eye, Yusaku glanced at the clock over by the door. Two hours left. In just two hours, he and Ryoken would be standing at the alter, in a western style wedding, saying the vows they'd spent all night creating.

And once they were done with all the formalities, he and Ryoken would be officially husbands.

Without him noticing it, the smile on his face started to grow.

..

"Ryoken-sama, if you'd please stop pacing for just a moment," Spectre said, and Ryoken could tell he was trying to keep his admonishing to the bare minimum.

He appreciated it - just as he appreciated him fixing him up for the ceremony - but in all honesty, Ryoken knew he could use a bit of admonishing at the moment. His nerves were certainly getting the best of him. He wasn't sure _why _he was quite that nervous, but his head wouldn't stop buzzing and it was preventing him from sitting still long enough for Spectre to finish up fixing his hair.

With a sigh, Ryoken forced himself to sit back into the chair. "I apologize, Spectre." Honestly, he was embarassing himself terribly, but he didn't know how to _stop_. "I don't know what's gotten into me."

Spectre, however, let out a loud snort. "Are you sure about that, Ryoken-sama?" Shaking his head, he brought the comb back to Ryoken's scalp. "I think you know exactly what's gotten into you."

It was true. If he hadn't had such a big mouth, he probably wouldn't be in the position he was right now. He hadn't exactly been a fan of Yusaku's original idea of just… getting the lisence and moving on with their lives, as if it had never happened, but now that the ceremony was just a few short hours away, he was beginning to think it was a better idea.

As Revolver, he had no problem performing in front of other people. Whether it was for a duel or just public speaking, it had never given him any trouble. In the real world, however, as Ryoken, he had never really been a people person. He was perfectly well mannered, and knew how to command a room with ease when it came to work related business, but that was different in his mind.

It wasn't quite stage fright, but somehow, the idea of reciting the words he'd written to Yusaku in front of a room full of their friends, what little family each of them had, and some of his coworkers seemed… incredibly daunting, to say the least.

He was the one who had asked for a western style wedding, however, and now he was paying the price.

When he didn't respond to Spectre, though, his friend continued. "Getting cold feet on your own wedding, are you?"

Despite Ryoken knowing exactly what his old friend was trying to accomplish, he couldn't help but take the bait. "Never," he replied nearly instantly. "You _know _how long I've wanted to marry Yusaku."

Stepping away from Ryoken to grab the hair spray, Spectre laughed a bit. "Unfortunately." Ryoken couldn't blame him for saying that - during the months that Yusaku had gone on his journey without contacting a single soul, he nearly cringed remembering how obnoxious he had been. "That said, there's not reason to be nervous, Ryoken-sama. It's just a wedding."

Hearing Spectre say that made him want to disagree, but he found himself reconsidering as he thought about his friend's words. The idea of telling the world that he loved Yusaku and wanted to be with him for the rest of his life certainly wasn't what was scaring him - the entire reason they had gotten into this mess was because he couldn't keep his mouth shut about their engagement, after all. It was really the idea of being that _intimate _in front of such a large crowd, but wasn't that kind of the joy of these events?

Truthfully, Ryoken had only been to one wedding in his life time; Kyoko and Aso's. It had been a relatively small affair, since Kyoko was still technically a wanted criminal. Most of those crimes had been absolved as of that point, but it wasn't exactly something they wanted to go around broadcasting.

It had been… quiet, yes, but comfortable. It was nice, really, to see two people who clearly cared about each other put it on full display.

Thinking about it like that made Ryoken's nerves slowly melt away. They were still there - and he would likely still be nervous until the end of the ceremony, when the afterparty started - but the idea of letting everyone they had invited know just how much he treasured his soon to be husband wasn't quite as terrifying as it had been.

"That's true," he finally said, letting himself relax for the first time since he'd woken up that day.

..

It was stupid, really, how nervous Yusaku felt. It made a little bit of sense - they'd only thrown together an actual ceremony _two weeks ago_, after all - but it was still stupid. All he had to do was walk down an aisle, readd some words off of a piece of paper Kusanagi would hand to him, and be done with it. He and Ryoken would kiss, the friends and family and colleages who had managed to make it on such short notice would cheer, and then they'd head over to the after party.

And yet here he was, shaking in the shoes that felt weird on his feet since all he'd ever owned were ratty old sneakers. Maybe he should've agreed to let Kusanagi walk him down the aisle instead of officiating. Maybe having someone walk with him would feel a little better than having everyone in the room stare at him in the white suit that felt too hot and itchy the whole way down.

Though the hall they had booked was quite large, Yusaku still heard the instant the music changed. That was his cue.

Forcing down a gulp, he mechanically moved his legs in an attempt to walk, but found it harder than he'd been expecting. Though the suit was stiff, he'd had no problem walking over there to his dressing room initially. He knew it wasn't the idea of marrying Ryoken that had him on edge - just the amount of people that would be watching him. Back in the dressing room, the thought had barely even crossed his mind. He was just excited to finally marry the man he'd been searching for since he was six years old.

Taking a deep breath, Yusaku shook himself a little. When he'd been talking to Miyu and Takeru as the former brushed through his hair, all that had been on his mind was how nice it would be to be able to say _husband _instead of boyfriend, or fiance as of late. With that thought on the forefront of his mind once again, he took a normal step, and began making his way to the alter.

His eyes met Ryoken's, and the slight frown on his face gave way to a smile. They hadn't seen each other all morning; forcibly kept apart due to the efforts of all their friends as per tradition. Their colors were flipped that day - usually, Yusaku was the one wearing darker tones while Ryoken preferred warmer, lighter colors. The thought, for whatever reason, made Yusaku's heart beat a little faster in his chest.

Ryoken looked beautiful. The small, serene smile on his face was enough to make the rest of the world fade from view. No longer was Yusaku thinking about how many people were watching this rare display of public affection from both of them. All he could see was Ryoken; his smile warm and welcoming.

And if he sped walked, after that realization, well, that was alright. Yusaku had never been good at following along to music, anyways.

..

The room was much fuller than Yusaku had been expecting. Ryoken knew a lot of people, that was true, but what was more surprising were how many of the faces he recognized. He had thought most of the guests had been people _Ryoken _had deemed should be there, not people he knew as well. When they'd first talked about it, Yusaku had been fine with just inviting Takeru and Kusanagi.

But then, of course, Miyu found out, and Aoi as well, and then Kusanagi had to bring Jin and Takeru had to bring Kiku, and their former allies like Emma and Kengo, and suddenly Yusaku realized he knew a lot more people than he thought he did.

It wasn't as if he minded, though. He was actually surprised at how _happy _he was to see so many familiar faces in the crowd. Truthfully, he probably should've been paying more attention to the speech Kusanagi was making, but he didn't really care.

The wedding itself wasn't what was important to him. So many people said that their weddings were the most important day of their lives, but Yusaku didn't. Maybe it was because of what he'd lived through already, or what he and Ryoken had been through together, but this just seemed like another day to him.

A fancier day, sure, but just another day. It was admittedly nice to be officially wed to the person he'd wanted to spend the rest of his life with, though. And now that he was in front of everyone, standing next to Ryoken - and Yusaku _really _couldn't get over how beautiful he looked - he found himself glad that he'd agreed to do the ceremony instead of just getting the certificate.

"You may now read your vows," Kusanagi said, and Yusaku snapped into focus at the words. He must've been spacing out for quite awhile if they were already _that _far along in the ceremony. They'd only practiced just yesterday, and Yusaku remembered feeling like it took a lifetime to get to the _you may now kiss _part.

Kusanagi dug a piece of paper out of his pocket, and handed it to Ryoken. Truthfully, Yusaku was excited to hear what Ryoken had to say. It wasn't every day that he got to hear Ryoken be incredibly sappy, and it was even more unusual that it was happening in a room full of people. Most of the words they spoke to each other were private, and half the time weren't even direct. They were usually vague thoughts that the other somehow understood, and that was something Yusaku honestly treasured about his almost husband.

He stopped his train of thought short, though, and instead directed his full attention at the man standing in front of him. _This _was the part he wanted to remember for the rest of his life.

..

"Yusaku," Ryoken started, sounding much calmer than he felt. He'd written these vows up three times before finally settling upon the words he wanted to say. In all honesty, he thought it was a bit of a stupid tradition. If one was marrying another, Ryoken thought they should already _know _all of the things being said in a vow. But he supposed reminding Yusaku of his feelings wasn't necessarily a bad thing. "I have always believed in fate, in destiny, and I think you are the reason that I do."

His speech was supposed to be vague, originally, but he had given up on that idea very early on in his writing. With how everything had calmed down over the years he had no qualms about speaking of their past a little more factually in front of the people they'd invited. Nearly everyone invited already knew that he was Revolver and Yusaku was Playmaker, at that point, anyways.

"From the moment we met each other as children, our fates had been sealed. And yet you pushed through that, and pushed through my defences, and made me into the person I am today. Without you, I would likely still be lost and alone, trying to accomplish a dead man's will.

"But instead I am here, standing before the most beautiful man I have ever met, inside and out. Instead I am here, about to be legally wed, and likely the happiest man in this room. All because of you." Ryoken took a moment to look up, and smiled at the beginnings of tears in Yusaku's eyes. The look on his face said more than enough about what Ryoken's words meant to him, and Ryoken brought a hand up to brush the corners of his eyes.

"I promise that I will always listen to what you have to say, regardless of if I agree or not. You have always been particularly good at getting me to change my mind, however." That got a few laughs out of the crowd, and Ryoken's face burned when he realized how many people were still there, listening. Watching. He nearly shook himself, but instead found his eyes trained onto Yusaku, who nodded almost eagerly at him.

"I promise that I will always help you on your hard days. That I will always do my part, as not only your husband, but as your friend. I promise that I will never stop encouraging you," Ryoken paused then, the paper in his hands long forgotten. He'd had these words memorized since he wrote them down. "That I will never stop giving you three reasons to keep going, and that I will make sure you have three new reasons each day."

Most of those words would be lost on the crowd, he knew, but Yusaku's eyes got misty once again. It was a rare sight, to see Yusaku cry - whether out of happiness _or _sadness - and despite the fact that Ryoken had never liked seeing anyone cry, he did his best to commit the sight to memory.

"And for as long as we're breathing, I will always be by your side," Ryoken said, handing the now crumpled paper back to Kusanagi.

The older man had a look on his face that Ryoken almost thought he'd never see. While Kusanagi had come to terms long ago with how Ryoken and Yusaku felt about each other, obviously it was hard for him to fully understand the relationship. While he'd long ago gotten over his issues with Ryoken - sacrificing himself for Jin's sake during the Ignis war had certainly helped with that - it was still hard for Kusanagi to think of him as anyone other than _Revolver, _former cyber terrorist and heir to the Kogami name.

He'd put his feelings aside for Yusaku, of course, but that was the first time that Ryoken truly felt like Kusanagi was seeing _him_, not his avatar and heritage.

After a moment, Kusanagi cleared his throat, and looked to Yusaku, whose eyes still shimmered with a few unshed tears.

"Yusaku, if you will," Kusanagi said, handing him a different piece of paper.

Truthfully, Ryoken had no idea what Yusaku might've written down. He wasn't much for long speeches, inside or outside of his Link VRAINS persona. Despite that, however, he was never shy about expressing himself to Ryoken. Even back when they'd still been fighting on opposite sides of the battlefield, Yusaku had made that clear to him.

_I can tell you my true feelings! Even my suffering and my weaknesses!_, Playmaker had once called out to Revolver, face squeezing in more emotion than he'd ever witnessed from his rival at the time.

"For ten long years," Yusaku started suddenly, snapping Ryoken out of his reverie, "I searched for you. You were my first friend. The first person I could truly say understood _me_." His words were quiet, but they were just as heartfelt as Ryoken's. The people sitting in the back likely couldn't hear him, but that was alright with Ryoken. These words were clearly for _him_, and him alone.

"For so long, I was trapped in the darkness with no way out. But you, and you alone, were able to climb that chasm and reach out to me." It was similar to what he'd said during their duel on top of the Tower, and Ryoken knew in an instant it was intentional. "I've loved you since I was six years old. I didn't have a word for it back then, but I knew.

"I've never believed in destiny," Yusaku continued, and both of them smiled a bit at that. "But if there was a fate, dragging us all along it's path… I'm glad that fate chose you. I can't imagine working my way through with anyone else.

"I promise I will always be there to pull you out of the darkness, just like you did for me. Even when it seems like it's all encompassing and there's no way out, we'll get through it together. I promise to never let you win, and always make you work for it. I promise I'll always keep fighting, so long as you're there with me."

While Ryoken's vows were more traditional, in the sense they followed an average structure that Spectre had sent him online after he through his second attempt in the trash, Yusaku's were very much his own. Yes, there were promises, and yes, he spoke about how and when they met. But they were short, and reminiscent of the words they'd said to each other throughout their time together - both as friends, rivals, and all the way into where they were now.

Gently, Yusaku handed his paper back to Kusanagi, who once again tucked it into his pants pocket. The two men smiled at each other as they did so, and Ryoken couldn't help but smile too. Kusanagi and Ryoken's eyes met once again, and Ryoken nodded at him.

His wedding present to Yusaku was a bit unorthodox, all things considered, but he didn't think his almost husband would mind.

"May the ring bearer now present the rings?" Kusanagi asked, and the music from the nearly ancient piano in the back began to play once again.

Purposefully, Ryoken had not told Yusaku who he had picked as the ring bearer. He'd offered to let Yusaku pick someone to spread out flowers without telling him as compensation, but Yusaku had refused, not seeing the need.

Though Ryoken was curious if the person he'd chosen had actually changed into the clothes he'd so kindly asked him to, he kept his gaze trained on Yusaku. In the back of his mind, he hoped someone was filming.

In quick succession, Yusaku's expression went from curiousity to a slack jawed sort of shock Ryoken had never really seen on his face before. The disbelief stayed on his face even as tears started to flow freely; Yusaku not even bothering to pretend they weren't there unlike during their vows.

Walking down the aisle, of course, was none other than Ai, in a fresh new SOLtis body with a grin on his face. In his hands was the pillow with the rings that Ryoken had given him.

"Ryoken," Yuskau whispered, "how?"

His own grin started to form, and he reached down to squeeze one of Yusaku's slackened hands. "I'll tell you later," he promised. "But for now, let's finish our wedding, yes?"

It was a bit cruel, he knew, to ask Yusaku to continue on as normal after this reveal. Even though he wasn't looking, he had a feeling Ai was rolling his eyes. It really wasn't that complicated, but he didn't want to talk about programming and computer jargon at the moment.

Since Yusaku had come back from his journey with what little remained of Ai's coding, Ryoken and the previous Knights had been working hard on restoring the Ignis to its former self. It had been difficult, both in terms of the work and in terms of his morality around the idea, but he knew Yusaku would be happier this way.

When he'd come back, he'd been a shell of his former self for the first month. Slowly, he'd started to come back to normal, and when he and Ryoken had started dating, it had helped a lot, but Ryoken had known all along that this wasn't something Yusaku would ever _let go _of.

So he studied. He did his best to understand the simulations that he'd found Lightning had left, and tried to figure out if it was really a threat to Yusaku's safety to have him be the only surviving Ignis.

With how long Ai had been gone, however, SOL Technologies had been hard at work with their SOLtis android program. AI had come so far, and Pandor's coding was used as a base for the latest generation of AIs, now.

That added factor alone - AIs with limited free will now being released into the wild - was enough to completely change the outcome of Lightning's simulations. It was also enough to convince Ryoken that this was the right path to take.

And looking at Yusaku's face, as he took his wedding ring into a shaking hand from a laughing, fully functioning Ai, Ryoken knew he had made the right choice.

..

For the rest of the ceremony, Yusaku couldn't seem to function or focus. It was honestly endearing, in Ryoken's opinion, how mystified he looked. Even as they receited the ring vows, even as Kusanagi told them to kiss, Yusaku's face of awe and wonder was what Ryoken knew would stick with him for the rest of their lives.

When the ceremony itself was adjourned and everyone began filing out into the designated afterparty space, Ryoken and Yusaku stayed behind. It was normal tradition for them to go _first_, but Ryoken knew that he needed a moment.

"How?" Was the first word that sounded like Yusaku after the Ai reveal, and Ryoken couldn't help the smug smile that spread across his face. "You promised you'd tell me later."

"I did promise that," he agreed, lacing his fingers through Yusaku's. "I used Pandor's base."

Yusaku scowled, and gripped Ryoken's hands tighter in retaliation. "That's not what I meant," he said, shaking his head. "And no," he continued, "I _won't _let it go for right now. I searched for _months_ for a way to bring him back."

Instantly, Ryoken's face sobered. "I know," he agreed, voice much more serious. It was hard for him to remember what Yusaku was like, back then, when he'd first come back. It had been hard enough witnessing the video survelliance of the moments after his final duel with Ai, but seeing him in person like that… Ryoken had swore to himself when they officially became an item that he wouldn't ever let Yusaku suffer like that again. And he intended on keeping that promise. "With the pieces of code you brought back," he continued after a moment, "I was able to splice it with Pandor's base. Over the past few months, it's been growing, and I've been restoring his memories."

Almost as if he didn't want to get his hopes up too much, Yusaku's gaze dropped to his shoes. "Does he remember?" He asked, voice soft. "Is he still…"

"He remembers everything," Ryoken promised. "He's still Ai." He still wasn't really used to calling him Ai, even after all this time, but for Yusaku's sake, he would make that comprimise.

Once upon a time, he had been ready to fully commit to it, during the war versus Lightning. When he'd lost - though one could argue it wasn't a true loss, thanks to Lightning's deception - and Playmaker and Ai had been there, he'd had second thoughts. The other simulations that he'd ran, before that had started, had started to sway him.

Then, of course, Ai had gone rogue, and Ryoken had quickly changed his tune. But now that things were over and dealt with, and he had Yusaku's happiness to consider…

Well, calling him Ai and allowing him to exist with the limitations of the code he'd developed seemed like a worthy enough sacrifice. If his father hadn't been rolling in his grave throughout the entirety of the day, he surely was at that point.

Ryoken found that he really couldn't care less.


End file.
